If you’re short of time at the National Ploughing Championships, we’ve identified some of the best sites that should visit.
Aldi
The Aldi Marquee is set to steal the show at this year’s National Ploughing Championships at Ratheniska, Co Laois next week. The stunning exterior clad in a ‘living wall’ of herbs and flowers sets the tone for a beautifully designed space showcasing Aldi’s suppliers and the very best of Irish produce, with a few special guests too. Two large venues within the Aldi Marquee will feature entertainment by the D’Unbelievable’s hilarious Jon Kenny, Gaeltacht superstars Seo Linn, and the legendary Sharon Shannon, all with guest MC Síle Seoige.
Angus Producers
The Irish Angus Producer Group is always a brilliant stand to visit at the Ploughing. Currently some 7,600 Irish farmers produce Angus cattle for the Certified Irish Angus Beef programme. The group have been stalwarts at the the National Ploughing Championships for the past 20 years and in effort to make its stand more relevant and to give something back to the members of our organisation, we embarked on a competition to encourage young secondary school students to become more involved in their family farms.
At this year’s National Ploughing Championships on Tuesday 23 Sep, the five finalist schools will receive a gift of five Angus calves cross each valued at €2,800. They will rear these calves through to beef by March 2016 and will benefit fully from any financial gain they derive from this production.
Lely
Lely the world leader in robotic milking systems will again have its hugely successful live robotic milking demonstration on show.
Last year, crowds flocked to see the herd of 40 cows which arrive to the ploughing site the weekend before the event to settle in and get used to the environment so that during the ploughing week they will just be milked at their leisure as they do on their home farm.
This project involves a huge amount of planning and once again is expected to be one of the highlights at this year’s ploughing.
Teagasc
The Teagasc stand is always a great visit at the ploughing. The organisation always has numerous advisers on hand to answer any farmer queries and dispense its latest advice.
Latest Teagasc research will also be outlined on the day and its stand generally is a great opportunity for farmers to catch up with the latest in agricultural research and innovation.
Grasstec
A great innovative company for any grassland farmer to visit at the ploughing has to be Grasstec. It will be exhibiting all of its services including:
- GPS farm mapping – it will have sample maps on display together with the Quad used for the process.
- Grassland Consultancy – there will be a display board setting out the benefits of the grassland management techniques which the team will talk visitors through.
- Livestock services – information on livestock services setting out the processes, benefits of our service and what Grasstec can do for you.
- Planning permission – display boards explaining the service and the fact that it specialises in the “Farm Plannings”
- Product display – products available from the online shop will be on display and can be purchased during the show.
- Audio visual – there will be a number of videos of actual projects and the services being completed to provide visitors to the stand with information on what is on offer.
- Contract rearing – Grasstec will be rolling out its new contract raring service shortly which it will be providing information on over the course of the event.
Glanbia
Another fantastic stand to visit particularly for dairy farmers is the Glanbia stand (stand 48 – livestock section) where representatives from Glanbia PLC, Glanbia Co-op, Agribusiness, Glanbia ingredients Ireland Limited, Glanbia Performance Nutrition and Consumer Foods will be on hand for the three days.
The Agribusiness technical team will be on hand to give advice on our wide range of services such as the GAIN heifer rearing program. Visitors can also get 30% off their first soil analysis test if they sign up at the stand. Customers can sign up for glanbiaagri.ie and be in with a chance to win an iPad mini. Visitors can learn more about our dairy, beef and tillage programmes which deliver proven on farm results
Glanbia Ingredients Ireland Limited’s dedicated Farm Advisory Team will be on hand to advise current suppliers and new entrants.
Glanbia consumer foods staff will also be on site giving product samples of their new protein milk, and showcasing some of their recent product innovations. All visitors to the Glanbia stand can enter the Ploughing Championship competition to win a tonne of feed, fertiliser and fuel.
Bank of Ireland
For any farmer with expansion on their minds, it might be no harm to pop in an visit the Bank of Ireland stand.
Bank of Ireland says at this year’s National Ploughing Championships farmers will have the opportunity to meet the dedicated Agri team and some special guests from Leinster Rugby.
Honda
Honda is also a great stand to call into at the ploughing. A wide range of the Honda Lawn & Garden as well as our ATVs will be on display.
Also don’t forget celebrate the launch of our new news app, Agriland in association with Honda Ireland a Brand New TRX250TE Quad Bike to one lucky winner. More here
National Dairy Council
Celebrating its 50th Anniversary, the National Dairy Council will have a spotlight on nutrition and wellbeing – as well as lots of opportunity for engagement, at this year’s National Ploughing Championships.
Rugby professionals Rob Kearney and Dave Kearney will be joining the National Dairy Council on the first day of the ploughing.
UCD Ag Science
For all those interested in careers in the broad areas of agriculture, food science or human nutrition, a visit to the UCD stand is a must.
Staff from the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science will be on hand over the three days to talk to students, parents, or those interested in furthering their career, and guide them through the range of undergraduate and post-graduate programmes the university has to offer. Recent graduates of the School’s undergraduate programmes will be in attendance and ready to offer their opinion on studying in UCD.
UCD also welcomes alumni to visit the stand to re-connect with old classmates and keep updated with news from UCD.